Leaks need to stop and witnesses need to be protected.
From who? A legal expert claims from the 'most dangerous defendant' in Donald Trump.
Former FBI general counsel and special counsel Robert Mueller's senior prosecutor Andrew Weissmann appeared on MSNBC's "The Last Word" with Lawrence O'Donnell and was asked about leaks of critical video depositions by former Trump lawyers Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell.
It is the contention of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis that the leaks to the press are intimidating witnesses and as a result she is asking the judge overseeing its sprawling racketeering case against former President Donald Trump and his allies to issue an "emergency" protective order over discovery materials to stanch any future leakage.
The filing came mere hours after video deposition of witness testimony from Powell, Ellis, and former Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro had been splashed on ABC News and other outlets' sites.
In response to prosecutors seeking an emergency order, Weisssmann said it is imperative because he believes that there is not "a more dangerous defendant" than the 45th president.
The footage inspired an angry reaction from Trump supporters and prosecutors allege that this was by design.
Weissmann, who appeared on a panel with Neal Katyal, former acting Solicitor General and Gwen Keyes, former DeKalb County District Attorney, explained his reasoning that the order is a measure that isn't easy to prove, but that there is plenty of material to compel the judge to institute it.
"It's a standard that the government needs to meet here is they need to show that there is a substantial risk of harm or economic injury," he said. "And so I think they're going to be questioning the quantum of proof that the state puts up."
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"But I think that this is an area where Fani Willis's argument tomorrow and Jack Smith's argument in the D.C. Court of Appeals, to sustain the gag order, really coincide."
He said that the taped evidence that managed to be released prematurely is material that "is harmful to Donald Trump."
"...That is why the D.A. [Willis], I think, is very appropriate to seek this order," he said. "Because you do not have a more dangerous defendant than Donald Trump in all of his criminal cases and his civil cases."
"This has been repeatedly found by the judges overseeing these matters."
